Posts Tagged With: Apple

I have to say that I REALLY like both my iPhone and iPad! I use both devices every day! They have helped me to organize myself a little more. Now if they would cook and clean….sigh……

There are quite a few Apps available that are very useful! I would like to share some I find helpful and even fun! The app I use the most is MealBoard.

This app helps me to plan my meals in advance, for however long I want. I usually plan for 3 weeks at a time. I have inputted a ton of recipes from my cookbooks, AllRecipes and Pinterest. Some of the recipes I find I can cut and paste into my app, but, some I had to type in, like the ones from my cookbooks. This took a while over the summer but it was fine because I knew, in the long run, it would help me stay on a meal plan and not ‘wing’ meals any longer. It also helps me save on my grocery bill per month because I know exactly what I need to get for each meal and it organizes it into a shopping list for me. The recipes are categorized however I see best. I have them in categories of crock pot meals, chicken, breakfast, breads, salads, soups and so forth. It has saved me the headache and panic of forgetting to take something out for dinner that night and has saved in the monthly grocery bills! I can even add in daily breakfast and lunch meals. I’m taking baby steps……I’ll hopefully get to the point where I will plan those meals also! It also shows a monthly calendar with all the meals planned so I can see what variety I have for the month! It’s just an all-around cool, helpful app!

I did break down and upgrade to the iPhone 5. My eldest daughter thinks I am cool once again! What I like about the 5 is Siri (You see, I came from the ‘not so cool’ 4 (not 4s) and according to my daughter, I was uncool!) But, I do like the Siri because I can talk to her and ask her to remind me to pay a bill, make a phone call or add something to my calendar. Now my husband, and probably a LOT of you may say, “Can’t you just manually add it in?” Of course I can, but why would I when I can have Siri do it for me??? Is it laziness on my part. Sure is! 🙂 I really do use my reminder and calendar on a daily basis! We lead such busy daily lives, that it is essential to have another ‘brain’ think for me and tell me it’s time to do this or that! If I can’t afford a personal secretary I guess Siri is the next best thing!

My camera is great on my phone. I love that I can take crisp, clear pictures and they will automatically ‘appear’ on my iPad and iMac. I take a lot of food pictures with my phone for the recipes I post and they will be on my iMac, ready to upload onto my blog. How convenient! HOW did we ever live without such devices?? My husband makes never-ending fun of me for my love affair with these devices. I say he is only jealous!! 🙂

Because I am so lazy I use my iPad a ton with home schooling! It would take too much energy to get up and walk across the room to look something up on the desktop! I look up a ton of videos and Google a ton of pictures on a ton of subjects we are learning about. One of my daughters and I were learning about Tsunamis and I YouTubed some videos that were captured in Japan. It really showed her the damage that can be and was done. My other two daughters and I have watched many videos on Botany..time lapse videos of flowers growing, bees pollinating a flower, the Venus Fly trap in action and more! Very educational and fun to watch!

I LOVE having Kindle on both devices. I mainly use it on my iPad, especially when I am walking on my treadmill. The words are a perfect size that are easy to see. I love taking it with me when I am waiting at a ballet class or wherever else I wait. I have found a ton of free books and cookbooks on Amazon….I think I’ve only bought two .99 cent books so far! I have recently discovered that you can borrow books from your library and download them onto your Kindle or iPad and read them. I LOVE that!

My AroundMe app has helped many times. If I am in an unknown area and would like to know where the closest hospital is, it will show where it is, how close and directions. We did need this app last summer when my daughter got a piece of food stuck in her throat while we were eating at a restaurant. We wanted to take her to the nearest hospital and it showed us right where to go. I have used it many times for stores, restaurants and more. It will use the location you are currently in and find the nearest places you are looking for. Cool!

I have a word processor, called ‘Pages”, and ‘excel’ program, called ‘Numbers”, on both devices. If I write something on one device, it automatically goes to the other device and syncs with it! If I am waiting for someone to get out of a class, I am able to work on a blog or take notes or write a document while I wait.

I have a flashlight app that I use quite a bit!

I have a calculator and

dictionary app.

I use my clock app to set an alarm, the timer to time spelling and a stopwatch to see how long one of my girls takes to jump on one foot!!

I can check Facebook, email, Safari, Pinterest, WordPress, Groupon, LivingSocial, play Pandora or YouTube, check the weather, even live radar, check out Google earth and so much more! They are amazing devices for as small as they are! I can even print from both of them if I desire! I can make movies, play awesome games, like Plants vs. Zombies or Angry Birds, check next year’s calendar to see what date Easter falls on, translate my Japanese friend’s sentence, convert units of measure, record a voice memo and so much more that I probably don’t know I can do!

Can you tell I am excited? In all seriousness though, I have used them both for keeping myself a little more organized, educational purposes and even for a little fun! If you have a cool app you would like to share, feel free to do so. Most of the apps I get are free, with the exception of a few. I like free! I may add a few on this blog, here and there, as I learn about new one that I like.

I hope this humored and educated you a bit on the benefits of owning a smartphone or tablet of some kind. I understand that these devices are not for everyone (my husband for one) and some really think they are a waste of time and money. I respect that!

Wow! What a couple of weeks it has been! We are done with both Nutcrackers! It is bitter-sweet. Both shows were spectacular! All the girls were amazing and beautiful dancers! I feel like it has been a whirlwind, a fun one, but a whirlwind, none the less! We now have our weekends back and I’m not sure what to do!! I’m sure they will fill up quickly! 🙂 I haven’t been posting for a couple of days so I thought I would share a recipe I found that I would like to give a try. If you try it let me know how you liked it.

Like this:

Well, today is Wednesday and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I guess I need to run to the grocery store! Actually, I only need a couple of things. 🙂 Yesterday was busy with me taking my oldest to her co-op classes, doing school with the other three, exercising, piano lessons (at our house, which is SUCH a time saver and definitely worth the little extra $) and getting ready for my 12 year old’s Nutcracker performance. She had to be downtown at the Opera House for Tech Rehearsal/costume fitting at 4:30 until 9:00 and I was helping out, so we had to gather everything she needed into a bag, like makeup, extra tights, hairspray (which I didn’t realize we were out of until then….too late…..hence one reason for having to run to the store today!), curling iron…etc. We then ran out the door and had a fun, tiring evening! AND….we get to do it again tonight! It’s all fun and exciting though! She is super excited to perform with professionals on a big stage! She is an angel and her costume is beautiful.

On to a recipe! I usually make another dish, specifically for my father-in-law because he loves it, for Thanksgiving, which I didn’t think about until last night! This is a super easy recipe for an apple torte. In no time at all, you have a sweet, piping hot, apple delight….add some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (or both) and it’s a delicious treat!

I hope you had a great weekend! I sure did! It was a beautiful, sunny weekend here in Michigan! We actually got to spend most of it together as a family, especially Sunday. We had not been to an apple orchard together as a family at all this year because of work and Nutcracker practice! It’s our favorite time of the year so we were a bit sad that we missed! So yesterday, after church, we headed out to one that was still open this late in the season. It was beautiful! The girls had fun feeding the animals and playing around. Time went way too quick and we are back to Monday and all the week entails! With that comes a new recipe I would like to share (actually two).

Today for dinner we are having Oriental Noodle Toss with Black Beans and Green Beans with Almonds and Bacon. The Oriental Toss is a new recipe for me so I am not sure we will like it! It sounds good, so I’ll give it a try!

Put a large pot of water on to boil.Stir together sesame oil, soy sauce and ginger in a medium-large serving bowl.As soon as water boils, stir in pasta and set timer for 6-9 minutes.Add to bowl the beans and onions.When timer sounds, add pea pods to boiling noodles for 1 minute. Drain. Toss with beans and sauce.

My husband came home with two big bags of apples last week from an orchard. We gave one bag to the neighbors and he repeatedly said I could use our bag to make apple pies. He never says anything like! He usually eats what I set in front of him and doesn’t specifically ask for anything in particular. We had the next day off of school and I took my girls to an apple orchard for the afternoon. As I watched them play I thought, “I should go home and attempt to make an apple pie from scratch…even the crust”. The girls were done playing and I took them home and looked for a pie recipe that would be easy to follow. This is the one I stumbled on and I have to say it was not only simple, but delicious! I actually made 3 pies from the apples and we ate them all! Here is the recipe: Enjoy! (I did use a pie crust recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook for the double crust)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.